Description

The discovery of lightwood and turpentine stumps in southeastern Virginia raised questions about the true historical range for longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.). Several investigative studies were therefore carried out to develop a method to determine the taxa of these relicts. Chemical approaches included the use of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy coupled with principal component analysis and characterization of the monterpenes in stump wood extracts by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). More recent efforts led to the revivification of a method involving measurements of pith and second annual ring diameters. Development of this method is still ongoing through the exploration of alternative measurements and the expansion of the data set. Results gathered thus far have been consistent with the putative range for longleaf pine in Virginia.